New Year Brings Cheer To Lc Boys

Boys basketball

If the new year brings more of what Lake City High boys basketball coach Jim Winger witnessed Saturday night, he’ll be satisfied.

Winger’s Timberwolves, having struggled during their first seven games, opened 1998 with a sterling 68-45 victory over Post Falls in a Border League game Saturday at Lake City.

Lake City’s hot finish after a slow start is something Winger hopes to build on.

“We need to put together some consistency,” said Winger, who noted his team takes on rivals Sandpoint on Tuesday and Coeur d’Alene on Friday. “We need to get it going now. We’re still a ways away, but I think we can do it.”

LC evened its overall record at 4-4 and league mark at 3-3. Post Falls, coming off an upset over Coeur d’Alene prior to the holiday break, shares the same records.

Post Falls coach Wade Quesnell was dumbfounded afterward.

“We’ve done a good job so far of being able to come back after we get down,” Quesnell said. “But we didn’t do that tonight. They played extremely well; they took it to us. We didn’t play good defense and we had poor shot selection.”

The opposite was true of Lake City. Solid zone and man-to-man defenses spurred the offense - especially in the second half.

After trailing 14-9 early in the second half, Lake City took command following an 11-0 run. The T-Wolves led 29-23 at halftime.

They pushed the lead to double digits in the third period and led 43-32 going into the fourth quarter.

In one stretch in the final period Lake City hit 5 of 6 3-pointers as Post Falls couldn’t find the mark.

Lake City did a particularly good job defending Chad Quesnell, the Inland Empire League’s most valuable player last season. Quesnell finished with 11 points on 2-of-13 shooting. He didn’t make a basket in the second half.

Four Lake City players reached double figures, led by Chad Cheeley with a game-high 18 points.

It was a physical game. The referees called 45 fouls, 26 in a ragged first half.

In another Border League game, Lewiston defeated Coeur d’Alene 61-50. Details were not available by press time.

Lake City 68, Post Falls 45

Post Falls 12 11 9 13 - 45

Lake City 8 21 14 25 - 68

POST FALLS - Klaudt 4, Meeks 4, Quesnell 11, Christiansen 2, Fehling 8, Therrian 0, Miller 7, Leary 6, McArthur 2, Thornley 1.

LAKE CITY - Hern 15, Bramlet 13, Cheeley 18, Reiswig 4, Lenz 0, Barlow 0, Schuh 10, Nipp 4, Stroh 0, Everson 0, Thiringer 4, Rod 0.

Cheney 62, Sandpoint 37

Pat Stiffler had 10 assists as the firstplace Blackhawks (7-1, 5-0) defeated the visiting Bulldogs (4-5, 2-4).

Sandpoint 10 4 9 14 - 37

Cheney 11 17 18 16 - 62

SANDPOINT - Nieman 8, Bowman 2, Gehring 5, Kleinert 8, Shelton 2, Bronk 1, Watson 2, Menard 4, Singleton 3, Rinaldi 10, Rust 2.

CHENEY - Stiffler 12, Eggart 4, Oyolokor 7, Goetz 6, Donnelly 0, Ervin 2, Caskey 6, Malisani 11, Kiger 8, Bond 6.

Non-league

Lakeside 47, Bonners Ferry 41

The visiting Knights (4-2) totaled 19 steals in defeating the Badgers (3-5).

Todd Bateman made 4 of 7 3-point attempts and Steve Merrill added eight rebounds for Bonners Ferry.

Lakeside 8 16 9 14 - 47

Bonners Ferry 7 9 12 13 - 41

LAKESIDE - Kollar 0, Lozeau 10, McFadden 5, Allen 9, Pluff 9, Montegue 0, Gajkowski 7, Morris 5, Johnson 2.

BONNERS FERRY - Winey 0, Clark 4, Bateman 16, Brush 0, Blanford 0, Barry 2, Baker 0, Rice 2, Zimmerman 13, Merrill 4.

Lapwai 65, St. Maries 51

Doug Sobotta scored 22, hitting 7 of 19 from the field and 7 of 10 from the line, as the Wildcats topped the visiting Lumberjacks (3-3).

St. Maries 9 12 13 17 - 51

Lapwai 18 15 11 21 - 65

SAINT MARIES - Krebs 2, Duffey 17, Willard 5, D.J.Eberlin 6, Driggs 16, Holdahl 3, Raebel 2.

LAPWAI - Boyer 4, Sobotta 22, Fazio 8, Picard 3, Bisbee 15, Seidel 4, Paul 2, Cunningham 5, Sispo 2.

Friday’s result

Reardan 61, Sprague-Harr. 39

Rhett Soliday scored 27 to guide the visiting Indians over the Falcons in a non-league game at Harrington.

Reardan 16 13 14 18 - 61

Sprague-Harr. 7 11 12 9 - 39

REARDAN - Krupke 0, Landreth 0, Eastman 7, Soliday 27, Jenkin 13, Nollmeyer 2, Brown 4, Hopper 2, Flaa 4, Hicks 2.

SPRAGUE-HARRINGTON - Engles 0, Morton 0, Wagner 8, Floyd 5, Carroll 7, Timm 4, Pelissier 4, M.Henry 0, Young 4, A.Henry 7.

, DataTimes